Stangl, Franz

Introduction

Inhoudsopgave

Franz Stangl is seen by many as the role model of the loyal and obedient police officer in any circumstance. Because of his upbringing in an authoritarian family and an education where blind obedience came first, he has carried out his tasks with meticulous dedication to which many hundreds of thousands have fallen victim. The life of Stangl was one of an inconspicuous civil servant who became a conscious cog in the machinery of the Holocaust.

Austrian police officer Stangl started his career in the mass murder factory in the Nazi euthanasia program and continued his work as commander of the extermination camps Sobibor and Treblinka respectively. During the last years of he war he was active in northern Italy and Yugoslavia.

During his imprisonment in DŁsseldorf, Germany, he had many conversations with British-Hungarian journalist Gitta Sereny over a period of weeks. This article includes numerous quotes from her report of these meetings.

Definitielijst

Holocaust

Term for the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis. Holokauston is the Greek term for a completely burnt sacrifice.